December 20, 2005

Billy Valentine - Portrait of a Fascist

I normally wouldn't waste my time responding to such an obvious troll, but our favorite gay-bashing, misogynist, anti-choice sidewalk counselor, Billy Valentine, left some comments here that point out a frightening streak of fascism. If we can assume he's not in his own political wilderness and that there are others like him, then this country is in deep shit indeed.

First some definitions.

Fascism - A system of government marked by centralization of authority under a dictator, stringent socioeconomic controls, suppression of the opposition through terror and censorship, and typically a policy of belligerent nationalism and racism.

In Mr Valentine's case, I can't speak on the racism or "stringent economic controls," but everything else about him seems pretty fascistic to me.

The Other Political Junkie outlined a case for impeachment based, in part, on the authorization of the seemingly illegal wiretapping and other abuses of power by the current resident of the White House. And Mr Valentine's response? I'll reprint it in full:

Wow. Impeachment? You are so far out in left field.. there's no hope of bringing you back to reality.

Republicans control the White House, Senate, House of Reps, the majority of state legislatures, and the majority of Governors.

And, with the help of Roberts and Alito, we are inches away from a Supreme Court that will shove OUR social agenda down YOUR throat.

Impeachment? How about a reality check.

While it may be correct to assume that because of the right-wing control of the federal legislature impeachment may be a long way off. But, if anything, that's more evidence of the further (some might say "absolut") corruption of the GOP. A blue stained dress and "that all depends on what the definition of 'is' is" and they impeach a sitting president. Another president admits to authorizing the NSA to ignore federal law and the best defense that that "Law and Order/Traditional American Values" party can do is to trot out a weak and dishonest rationalization that Congress authorized Bush to do what he wants, when he wants and wherever he wants in his war on terror.

Sounds more than a bit fascistic to me.

And then there's Billy Valentine. Read his words carefully. Look at what he says and what he doesn't say. There's no concern about the legality of the NSA authorization, no concern about the threat to civil liberties. Heck even Bob Barr is outraged at that one. He said this on CNN:

What's wrong with it is several-fold. One, it's bad policy for our government to be spying on American citizens through the National Security Agency. Secondly, it's bad to be spying on Americans without court oversight. And thirdly, it's bad to be spying on Americans apparently in violation of federal laws against doing it without court order.

But not a trace of this in made it out of Mr Valentine's bile duct. All this is seemingly OK with him as long as the Supreme Court (with newcomers Roberts and Alito) gets to shove his wing-nut agenda down the country's throat.

And what would that agenda be? I am guessing it goes something like this:

Might makes right, the powerful can and should ignore the law whever it wants to, and anyone who disagrees needs a reality check.

2. "Apparently, you are unaware that Clinton also used his executive order powers to do PHYSICAL searches without a court order in order to get foreign intelligence on American soil."

Nice way to miss the obvious! What you're missing in the National Review article is that this was DEBATED in the open at the time. That Clinton SOUGHT Congressional APPROVAL. That he actually sought real Congressional AUTHORIZATION. That Gorelick did TESTIFY before Congress and that The Washington Post was able to quote that testimony the next day. Clinton did not act like a THIEF IN THE NIGHT telling partial truths to an extreme minority of Congress and keeping them from seeking any legal opinion. And that the outcome of that OPEN DEBATE was an order that DID NOT INVOLVE WARRANTLESS SPYING ON AMERICANS:

The top of the Drudge Report claims “CLINTON EXECUTIVE ORDER: SECRET SEARCH ON AMERICANS WITHOUT COURT ORDER…” It’s not true. Here’s the breakdown –

What Drudge says:Clinton, February 9, 1995: “The Attorney General is authorized to approve physical searches, without a court order”

What Clinton actually signed:Section 1. Pursuant to section 302(a)(1) [50 U.S.C. 1822(a)] of the [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance] Act, the Attorney General is authorized to approve physical searches, without a court order, to acquire foreign intelligence information for periods of up to one year, if the Attorney General makes the certifications required by that section.

That section requires the Attorney General to certify is the search will not involve “the premises, information, material, or property of a United States person.” That means U.S. citizens or anyone inside of the United States.

The entire controversy about Bush’s program is that, for the first time ever, allows warrantless surveillance of U.S. citizens and other people inside of the United States. Clinton’s 1995 executive order did not authorize that.

Drudge pulls the same trick with Carter.

What Drudge says:Jimmy Carter Signed Executive Order on May 23, 1979: “Attorney General is authorized to approve electronic surveillance to acquire foreign intelligence information without a court order.”

What Carter’s executive order actually says:1-101. Pursuant to Section 102(a)(1) of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1802(a)), the Attorney General is authorized to approve electronic surveillance to acquire foreign intelligence information without a court order, but only if the Attorney General makes the certifications required by that Section.

What the Attorney General has to certify under that section is that the surveillance will not contain “the contents of any communication to which a United States person is a party.” So again, no U.S. persons are involved.

haha, i was just about to go to bed when i stumbled upon this site. i'm glad i could get a good laugh in before bed. my favorite part was where you said billy valentine was a gay-bashing, misogynist! LOL that was a good one! thanks for that. God bless